I. Field of the Disclosure
The technology of the disclosure relates generally to controlling battery charging in mobile computing devices.
II. Background
Mobile computing devices have become increasingly common throughout society. The proliferation of such mobile computing devices is fueled in part by increased processing power that enables increased functionality. Such increased processing power is offset in part by the increased power consumption that such functionality requires. Concurrent with the increased functionality, advances have been made in batteries such that the time that passes before a battery needs to be recharged has been extended (sometimes referred to as battery run time). Likewise, the time required to charge a battery has been reduced.
There are generally two components used in charging a battery. The first component is a battery pack, which may include, in addition to the actual battery, charge protection circuitry and a temperature sensor. The second component is a power management integrated circuit (PMIC), which may include a buck charging circuit, a charge controller, and a battery field effect transistor (FET) that acts as a fuel gauge.
While significant advances have been made in battery run times and charging times, pressure remains to reduce the cost, size, and impedance in battery charging circuitry.